


One Dose

by Stariceling



Category: Toriko (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Missing Scene, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-28
Updated: 2012-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 04:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/731562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Century Soup arc (spoilers). Takimaru is determined to do whatever it takes to help Aimaru.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Dose

Takimaru had a sort of endearing pigheadedness that just never went away. He was dedicated, serious and earnest as any good Gourmet Knight, but once he’d gotten his focus on something he never let it go.

“What were you planning to do? After going through all that to find a medicine that I told you I wouldn’t take.”

“I would make you take it, if I had to.”

This in such a sure, serious voice that it actually gave Aimaru pause. Here was something far cry from the boy who had clung so close that he was regularly afflicted with the contagious diseases Aimaru sought out to eat, leaving Aimaru forced to take a second course from his young ward.

He had already decided. To fulfill that long-ago promise to chase what they called the pinnacle of foods, he would accept the extra years Takimaru was so determined to add to his life. Yet he also wanted to see just how far his pupil would take that declaration.

“You can try,” Aimaru suggested. He expected more pleading, begging, maybe even tears. Takimaru was so stubbornly honest he had held nothing in reserve.

For Takimaru to take a deep breath and go into his pre-shot routine was not unexpected. When Takimaru darted forward, his mouth pressing over Aimaru’s at the very instant his hands caught the sides of Aimaru’s face to hold him in place, that was unexpected.

Takimaru’s thumbs were pressing on the hinge of his jaw, and he had to let his jaw open or it would be dislocated. Aimaru didn’t make a fight of it, swallowing obediently when he tasted tepid water and an unfamiliar bitterness on his tongue. The strength in those shaking hands was more than enough to gauge Takimaru’s helpless determination. For him it seemed there was no other option in the world but for his quest to somehow succeed. Aimaru had only heard the first hints of what Takimaru had fought his way through with that mind set.

When Takimaru’s mouth released his it was just enough for a fierce whisper. “I accept whatever punishment you decide on.”

And then Takimaru’s mouth covered his again, tongue invading his mouth and forcefully exploring every last crevice. It took Aimaru’s brain a moment to catch up enough to realize Takimaru was making sure he wasn’t still holding the medicine in his mouth to spit out later. When had his Takimaru become such a distrustful child?

It took a minute to ease Takimaru away. Little threats that ‘you’re going to catch something if you keep that up,’ (possibly several somethings, considering their track record) were as ineffective as ever, and Takimaru’s forehead ended up pressed into his shoulder.

Strong, shaking hands slipped from his face to wrap around and support him. Aimaru was left wondering how his own body had wasted away so much with sickness without him realizing it. There was a time when he could have picked his little Takimaru up with one hand. But Takimaru had just been a child then, Aimaru reminded himself, trying to curb his meandering thoughts. He certainly couldn’t be mistaken for a child now.

Aimaru pressed a kiss to Takimaru’s forehead, not disturbing the long bangs hanging in his face. He hadn’t realized it until now, but in the last few months he had failed to eat up something that was _plaguing_ Takimaru. That same silent, sick fear of being alone he had carried with him when they first met. It was time for Aimaru to remedy that.


End file.
